Paranoid Android is Back…for the Properly Paranoid

I spend a lot of time talking about CyanogenMod and AOSP (and some others) at the Dark Android Project as being alternative operating systems to run on your Android phone (and still run all your apps, of course), but I oft neglect one of the other Android-compatible/reconfigured operating systems: AOSPA…or more commonly known as “Paranoid Android“.

Paranoid Android has been around for years and has been a solid alternative to Google’s version of Android, and it offers perhaps even a greater level of configurability to the OS than CyanogenMod allows. I haven’t brought up Paranoid Android over the past year since there hasn’t been any updates in the same amount of time (this being due to the original developers being hired by OnePlus to develop Oxygen OS). But today, that has changed.Paranoid Android now has an update and the update goes right to Android Marshmallow. But not just a jump up to Marshmallow, they’ve also delivered some new “under the hood” work on Paranoid Android. Here’s part of the list:

More floating window options for apps, including launching floating windows from notifications

On-the-spot controls for pop-ups to enable or disable relevant settings

Live rearranging and removing of Quick Settings tiles

A new gesture engine for launching apps and other settings

Custom visual elements and backgrounds from Hampus Olsson

Not bad. It is officially released today, but here’s the list of devices that it is officially supported on at this time:

Galaxy Nexus

Nexus 4

Nexus 5

Nexus 5X

Nexus 6

Nexus 6P

Nexus 7 2012 and 2013

Nexus 9

Nexus 10

OnePlus One

OnePlus 2

OnePlus X

Oppo Find 5

Oppo Find 7 and Find 7s

Oppo N1

Xperia Z2

Xperia Z2 Tablet

Xperia Z3

Xperia Z3 Compact

Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact

More devices are sure to come, but this is a pretty good laundry list. Interestingly, the Pixel C isn’t listed here, but many Dark Android recommended tablets and phones are, including the now-defunct Xperia Z line. Oppo and OnePlus also make fair devices, the the ability to throw Android 6.0 on the Nexus 10 and even the Galaxy Nexus is no minor miracle.

There are many things to glean from this latest AOSPA release. One is that if Paranoid Android can release Android 6.0 on a Galaxy Nexus…why isn’t Alphabet/Google still supporting the device? Why are many manufacturers not updating their devices to the latest and greatest? In my opinion? As I’ve said often, these companies need you to buy a new device every 6 months to 2 years so that they can even stay afloat. Is it ethical for company to operate and sell on that model? Sure. Can consumers get pissed off about something that they laid out hundreds of dollars becoming obsolete just because the manufacturer is too lazy to release much needed (at least for security) operating system updates? Damn straight they can get pissed off about it.

And there is much to say about this, I could go on forever. So, hey, if you have any of the above listed devices and you’d like to update to Android 6.0/Marshmallow, give Paranoid Android a go. The devs know what they’re doing, and I love it when people support “antiquated” hardware.